The Promise That Comes with a Name
by DjDangerLove
Summary: He's been called Uncle Steve plenty of times, but now he finally understands what it means. One-shot. No slash.


**My first Hawaii Five-0 story and hopefully not my last. **

**Just a little short one-shot about Uncle Steve, because he's the best! :) **

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Steve shrugged his black backpack up on his camouflaged uniformed shoulders and nodded once more at Chin, Kono, Danny and Grace as they stood in the lobby of H.Q.

as he said his goodbyes before he left on a special mission with the Navy.

"Alright, Danno, you're in charge while I'm away but if you can't handle it, I'm naming Grace as second in command." He grinned at his partner, before turning his eyes on the little girl standing beside him acting awfully strange like she usually did when he left for a mission. He covered his concern with a wider grin and looked back at Danny as Detective Williams started his long awaited rant.

"Ha ha. Very funny. Do me a favor and don't do anything stu- you know what never mind. See you when you get back."

"Wait? That's it?" Steve asked, a little surprised.

"What's it?

"Your ranting. It only lasted about," he glanced at his watch, "five seconds."

"Ok, first off, I was not ranting. I was simply telling you goodbye before you went off on another one of your G.I. Joe missions. Second of all-"

"You're worried about me." Steve cut him off, earning a snicker from Chin and Kono and glare from Danny, but his partner didn't correct him.

"Would you just go before you miss the boat? I don't want to know what Super SEAL would do in that scenario and I think it's safer for the entire island of Hawaii for us not to find out."

"Technically, it's a ship." Steve replied, grin already in place before he had even baited his partner into the annoyance he loved tying him up in.

"No. No, not that again. I don't care if it's a _dinghy_. We aren't having that conversation again, ever."

The lieutenant commander smiled widely with satisfaction before holding his hands up. "Alright, alright. Calm down, Danno. I'm leaving. See you all when I get back. Be safe."

"You too, Brah." Kono replied with Chin and Danny nodding in agreement.

He turned in the direction of the door and got about four steps away when he heard a voice yell, "Wait!" and felt two small hands grasp the fingers of his left hand. "Please don't go."

He turned and felt every barricade the Navy had trained him to put up around his emotions crumble into dust upon seeing the perfectly round tears welling up at the corners of Grace's eyes as she bit her wobbling bottom lip. One of her small hands around his fingers slid away to wipe at her face, causing them to spill down her cheeks.

He chanced a glimpse at Danny for help, but his partner just stuffed his hands in his pockets waiting for the scene to unfold. Despite not wanting to, he turned back to the little girl holding his hand.

Tilting his head to the side with soft eyes, as if the deep sigh that escaped him would be enough to convince her that she had nothing to be afraid of, he knelt down in front of her.

"Gracie, look at me. Everything's gonna be fine, sweetheart. " He grinned while wiping at the tear tracks on her left cheek with his thumb. "What's Danno always calling me? Super SEAL, remember? You've got nothing to worry about. I'm going to be back in a few days. A week at most."

"But you're not just Super SEAL anymore. You're my Uncle Steve!" She shot back while stepping away from him and catching the commander off guard more than a slap across the face could have.

Steve glanced back at Danny hoping for a little more help this time, but he just raised an eyebrow in support of his daughter. Steve sent him a "look" he knew his partner would later label before putting his attention back on Grace.

"You're really making me look bad in front of your dad, kid. You know how long I'm going to have to listen to him go on about making his daughter cry?" She sniffled as she managed the tiniest version of her innocent smile that had Danny in a New Jersey puddle in seconds every time she showed it. Steve smiled back at her, love for the little girl who had become family deepening the lines on his face as he did so but still with that mischievous, dauntless look in his eyes. He motioned with his index finger for her to step closer to him, then leaned over to whisper in her ear, "I'll make you a deal. You tell Danno you want nothing to eat but pizza with pineapple on it until I get back to bust his chops, and I'll bring something back extra special for my favorite princess." He leaned back and winked at the little girl, eliciting a giggle out of her along with a nod before her face fell again.

"Can I ask for something specific?" She leaned forward and quietly inquired.

McGarrett straightened his back a little, twisting his face in thought for a moment before giving her a determined gaze. "Anything you want."

She waited a moment, her brown watery eyes staring down into his own, definitely dry, blue ones. Then in the next second, he was tensing the muscles in his legs to keep himself balanced as her little arms wrapped around his neck and her face buried in the side of his neck. As if there wasn't anything else in the world she replied, "I want my Uncle Steve to come back home."

He glanced up at Danny from around one of Grace's pigtails, seeing the poorly hidden concern etched on the man's face, and that was it. The moment he realized he was no longer Steve McGarrettt, no longer Super SEAL, or Superman. Everything he was, every crazy, psychotic, fearless, daredevil ounce, as Danny would say, boiled down into one plan, one mission: Uncle Steve.

He felt his heart pound harder than it had the first time he ever pulled the trigger of his gun on an enemy in combat and held Grace tighter, burying his own face in her hair.

"Promise me you'll come back." She whispered against his neck and for a brief moment, Steve could hear Danny's voice from one of their conversations in the car from a previous case saying something about false hope being the only thing keeping him going. Without another second of hesitation he made a bigger promise than the one he made to his country, the biggest promise of his life.

"I promise, Grace. Uncle Steve will always come home."

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**AN: Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think!**


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